"Yeah?" He asked, bursting a soap bubble on David's chest with his index finger. An intimate gesture. But his hand immediately went back to his side. "What did you hear?"

"That a lot of people die in block C and that the guards don't really do anything about it."

"Oh, yes, that's right," the man nodded, his lips pressed together. “A lot of people die. But not so many that it wouldn't be overcrowded anyway.”

“Which block are you in? In C?” David asked, knowing he couldn't be in block A. After his walk today, he should at least have met him once.

"Yes, block C," the man breathed, looking up at David. "I can confirm that things are different over there."

“Then why are you taking a shower in block A? How do you get over here?” David felt an uncomfortable feeling crawling up his spine.

The man smiled gently and took a step back. He got into the shower again and stroked his hair. Finally, he turned off the tap. “I don't like showering in C over there. If you look like me, people like to use us as animal feed. You know what I mean."

David could have guessed that the rape culture in block C was exactly what you knew from movies.

“Here in A no one bothers me. And do you know Hank?” the man asked as he simply turned around and went to his towel. "I bring him little inside information and for that he lets me pass the locks. He is a nice man. Sometimes he brings me chocolate.” David heard him laugh. “I think he likes me a bit more, but that's okay. He leaves me alone so far. We both benefit from the situation.”

David also turned off the shower and followed the man to the locker room. "So you're spying?"

The man winced. As if David had said a very uncomfortable word. "Not really. The information Hank receives from me is inattentive. A new tattoo or a stupidly chosen drug deal that would have been exposed anyway. I'm just speeding up the process.”

"Isn't that dangerous?" David asked, watching the man dry himself. For the first time he looked between his legs. But immediately looked away again.

"Probably yes," the man sighed, wrapping his towel around his head as he had the day before. "But not as dangerous as biting off a finger in the middle of the canteen when armed guards are around you."

Then David had to smile. "You are right."

"If you want to bite something off, take his cock," the man suggested, and David was surprised to find that the small, somewhat sweet man wasn't as cute as he looked. “Pretend you're playing along. Lure him into the shower. Give him a blowjob. Then off it is,” he laughed, gesturing with his hands how the bitten penis would fall out of his mouth.

"I'm not sure I want his penis in my mouth," David admitted, remembering how disgusting it was to have just one finger in his mouth.

"Inhibitions?" the man giggled and took a big step towards David. His nose almost touched David's chin. “You are here in another world. The laws from outside do not apply here. Do you find gays disgusting? Get used to it. Here are a lot of horny stallions who all want to sink their cocks into you. And either you're topping or bottoming.”

David sensed that the man just wanted to teach him a lesson. Wanted to help him. But David wasn't a master at giving good answers, so he just started asking. "And where are you?"

The man smiled broadly. David just couldn't help it and returned the smile. For a while they just stood there and smiled at each other. "Do you want to find out?"

David knew that such a question would come up. But he didn't have a good response. Of course, the answer should have been 'No' like everyone else, but he didn't want to destroy this new relationship, which was normal under the circumstances given. But a clear 'yes' didn't come out of his lips either.

The man felt David wrestling with himself, so he laughed and slapped David's chest with the palm of his hand. The rest of the moisture made it sound particularly loud in the shower room. "You know what? I like you. And I hate Antonio as much as you do. He's a bursa and thinks he has block A under control.” David watched the man swing into his black bathrobe. "But he doesn’t."

"Yeah," David said softly, still standing there naked. With a towel in his hand. He wondered how the man knew Antonio when he was actually in block C. But maybe you got to know personalities like Antonio and Candy despite the different blocks.

"I'll help you," he said, and tied the robe belt. “Try to get him here tomorrow night. Only him. Here in the shower. Tell him it's empty, you've been here the past few days. I'll tell Hank that we need to be alone."

"I don't know if I want to do that." David swallowed. “Like, with his penis. In my mouth."

“Don't worry about it, scaredy-cat. I'll do it for you,” the man said, his lips pressed together as if he were talking to a child who wouldn't dare to make an uncomfortable phone call. “Your job will only be to bring him here. I'll do the rest for you.”

David wasn't sure what exactly he was getting into. Because the way the man put it, it didn't look like a simple prank that they would play Antonio.

"I don't think he'll fall for it."

"Antonio is as stupid as his badly made gold teeth sparkle," the man whispered, reaching for David's towel to put it on his shoulders. He started gently wiping the drops from David's cleavage. "He's looking for submission because he can't take the size of his own cock."

The man laughed briefly at his own joke.

“Just tell him what he wants to hear. That you belong to him, that you want to show him how much, and stuff like that. He believes everything.”

"And then? Even if he was so stupid to come here alone - which I don't think - what do we do? He'll hardly let you blow him.”

The man shook his head. "This is true. I’ll come up with something until tomorrow. He'll learn his lesson.”

As David was gently dried like a mother would take care of her child, he felt a tingling sensation in his feet. That he should run away. As fast as he could. Because at what price would this man help him?

"What do you want me to do?"

"For my help?" He asked when he started drying David's stomach.

"Yes."

He seemed to be thinking. "Maybe your name?"

"That's all? My name? I'm sure you already know it. You look like a well-informed guy.”

The man smirked and slid down the towel. He rubbed lovingly over David's hips. "You're right, but it's nicer if you tell me yourself."

"David," he said without saying much more.

"Hello David," the man purred. And as often as the mood changed during this one conversation, the change came unexpectedly: he grabbed both ends of the towel and pulled them in his direction, leaving David with no choice but to fall against him. The man purred again, this time with his lips to David's chin. He could feel the vibration of the individual words. "Do you want to know my name too?"

And just as the whole thing was building up, David suddenly regretted his carelessness. That he just walked into this shower and let himself be drawn into a pact. With a man whose name he didn't know. With a man who came from block C. What if -

"Yes," David breathed, tensing every muscle in his body.

The man grinned broadly. "I'm James."

Then he leaned forward, gave David a quick kiss on the lips, and let go of both him and the towel. "Tomorrow, 8:00 p.m.," he called through the corridor and waved to David again before he went around the corner and left the shower.

David breathed a sigh of relief and left the shower with shaky knees five minutes later. On the way there, he mentally recited the man's name like a mantra.